Street arts

Street arts includes theatre, music, circus, dance, carnival, mela, installations and pyrotechnics. Street arts is presented outdoors and is often free to the public. It can take place in a range of urban and rural settings – on streets closed to traffic, in shopping centres, parks, village greens and town squares as well as at organised events and festivals.

In common with building-based shows, street arts events come together through the hard work and creativity of a whole team of people–from producers and directors to technicians and designers.

Liz Pugh from Walk the Plank says: “Street arts reaches the places others fail to reach: we make theatre in the street and on the pavement, we make magic in the castle or the car park, we make music around the town square or the city centre, we perform at the end of the pier or on the beach, we follow you along the prom or surprise you in the shops.”

Some street arts organisations and links

• Independent Street Arts Network (ISAN)
• National Association of Street Artists (NASA)
• Street Arts Meeting
• Mintfest
• Artichoke (Sultan’s Elephant)
• Walk the Plank
• Lyn Gardner blogging on street arts
• Read the Arts Council England street arts healthcheck